Fall In Love With Me
by piper2210
Summary: Faberry fic set in season 3. A not-so-healthy competition between Quinn and Santana.
1. Chapter 1

**PART 1**

"Do you want to put a wager on that?"

Quinn and Santana had been bickering for quite some time in the girls' locker room. Brittany was really getting tired of this. She had lost track of time and she was hungry. It could have been time for dinner for all she knows. If she didn't put a stop to this, they might get locked up in school. It wouldn't be such a bad idea if it was just her and Santana. But for now she would just let them bicker some more. If they started to pull each others hair, she might need to step in.

Ever since Quinn and Santana left Sue's office, they had been throwing barbs back and forth. Sue had made both of them co-captain and neither were willing to back down.

"Hey I was the first one who decided to join Cheerios again and you decided to tag along."

"I wasn't tagging along. It's always been my plan. I want to have two Nationals win in my senior year. As if I'll ever be your second stringer."

"Oh please Q, ever since you got knocked up, you just became this low life. And you think by joining Cheerios, you'll get that status again, as if."

"My status has always been there. It was just lying dormant while I let people like you have your 5 minutes. And now I'm taking it back. It's senior year and I'm ruling the school."

"You think you're all that, don't you? Like you're so good that you can get everyone to follow you. Like you can get whoever you want."

"That's because I can get whoever I want."

"Haha, yeah right. _I_ can get whoever I want. You're no longer relevant here."

And that was the last words they exchanged before Santana turning the heat up in their competition.

"What do you have to offer? Your beat up car? No thank you."

"My savings. $1000." Santana was dead serious about putting a wager on their competition.

Quinn just laughed it out, "You're willing to lose $1000. Okay, bring it on."

"I need to know whether you do have the money, because at the end of the day, I'll be collecting."

"My money is good." Both girls were now standing inches apart eyeing each other. "So how do we do this? We pick one person and see who he'll pick?" Quinn wondered.

"No. I think we each work separately. We each pick a loser. And it has to be something more, like that loser has to fall in love with you. Even better if there's a big public declaration. There should be a bonus for that." Santana was already imagining the situation.

"Okay, how do we pick these losers?"

"Hey Brit," Brittany had been following the conversation the whole time and she was getting excited of the prospect.

"No problem. Losers coming right up." Santana didn't need to finish the sentence because Brittany was already going off to one corner to write down some names in pieces of papers.

"Brittany, they can't be juniors. Just seniors, okay," Quinn made her request.

"Yeah Brit, and pick the losers of the losers," Santana added. Then she turned to Quinn, "So whoever can get that loser to fall in love with them first wins."

"Okay." Brittany skipped over to them and handed them a box with rolled up papers.

Quinn and Santana reached in the box at the same time, and they were even slapping each other's hands in the box. Finally they each pulled out a piece of paper.

Santana rolled open her paper and read the name aloud, "Karofsky, heh, this should be easy."

"What? He's not a loser. He's in the football team." Quinn looked at Brittany disbelievingly.

"He's a loser in my eyes." Brittany just said matter of factly.

"Hey Q, don't be a sour puss. What's in the paper is final. Now who did you get?"

Quinn sneered, then she rolled down her paper. Her eyes bulged when she saw the name. "Brittany, it's supposed to be just boys."

"What? You said losers, you didn't specify gender. Besides you said you can get anyone you want. So it shouldn't be a problem."

Santana was chuckling and high-fiving Brittany, "Come on Q. You like the challenge. So who did you get?"

"This wouldn't be fair. It'd be easy to get a boy to fall in love with you."

"Just give the name. Or are you admitting defeat already. You want to hand me your $1000." Santana was enjoying this even though she didn't have a clue why Quinn looked so nervous.

"Rachel Berry," Quinn huffed out loud.


	2. Chapter 2

**PART 2**

Quinn spent the whole night googling Rachel but the only thing she could find were her MySpace page, that hasn't been updated for a while, and her Facebook page, but since they were not friends in Facebook, she couldn't see much except for her banner, which was not surprising, a picture of Barbra. That was pretty much a public knowledge that Rachel loves Barbra, and that was all she knew about Rachel. Rachel must have loved other things too but Quinn just couldn't think of ways to find out without letting other people know of her intention.

Quinn leaned back on her chair and thought about the situation that she had put herself in. She couldn't shake this weird feeling, this … thing of trying to make Rachel fall in love with her. It was not because it was Rachel, but because Rachel's a girl. And okay, maybe because it was Rachel. It was just that she never even tried to flirt with a girl to get something, She didn't even know how. It had never cross her mind. Now she had to get out of her comfort zone and all that for what? Just to prove to Santana that she was right, that she was the ruler of McKinley High? It was not about the money. It was about pride. It was about self-esteem. But it was still weirding her out. She had never thought that she would be in a situation where she was the one who needs to do the chase. If it were a boy, it would be so easy. She could have the boy eating from the dirt of her shoes by the end of the day. All she needed to do was show some skin, a little touch here, a little sexy voice there, allude to them getting a home run soon, and they would be wrapped around her finger. But a girl? She was really clueless on what to do.

Being a girl herself, she thought of what guys would normally do to get her attention.

"Hmm, what did Finn do?" Quinn said out loud.

Then she realized that he didn't do anything. She was the one who approached him because he was the quarterback, and quarterback means popularity. She didn't have to do anything much too. She just smiled and said hello and he instantly followed her around like a puppy dog.

"Okay, what about Puck?"

They never actually had a relationship. She was pretty much drunk and made a big mistake. _Making Rachel drunk wouldn't make her fall in love with me. _

"What about Sam?"

He said some things in Avatar, she couldn't even remember what it was, he made voice impression and sang to her. They were all so cheesy and the only reason she agreed to go out with him was because he was the new quarterback. Again for status. It was important for her to be on top of the hierarchy, so that nobody can bring her down and she wouldn't be anyone's floor mat. _But hey, maybe I could use what Sam did, not speaking in Avatar of course, but I could compliment her. Women loves compliment, and I could sing to her? Okay, maybe that would be too weird especially if it's in front of the Glee club, but maybe at some point I could use that._

Quinn went to bed with the list of things she needed to do to make Rachel fall in love with her.

* * *

The next day in school, Quinn was walking idly through the hallway. She was trying to memorize her cheering routine when she saw Rachel by her locker. She had all this plan in her head that she formulated last night, but the moment she saw Rachel, she thought that she couldn't go through with it.

She wasn't even good at starting a friendship, let alone a relationship, and to get a girl, a girl named Rachel Berry, to fall in love with her was something that was unachievable.

_But you said that you can get anyone you want._

_I meant guys, boys. I can get any boy I want._

Okay, there wasn't any point of arguing in her head.

Then she noticed Santana approaching Karofsky. Her swaying was exaggerated and Karofsky noticed her too. Quinn couldn't tell whether he looked scared or aroused. They were talking and she was caressing his arm and laughing at something he said. _That laugh was so fake._

Quinn was sneering but her thoughts were interrupted by somebody bumping into her. Or maybe she bumped into them because they were both walking towards each other.

"Hey, watch it!" Quinn hissed.

"Sorry. I wasn't looking. I'm really sorry Quinn. Are you hurt?"

It was Rachel. Quinn was too stun to speak, and since Quinn didn't say anything, Rachel started to move. Santana was laughing pretty loud now. Quinn glared at her but Santana just gave her a wink. Quinn was fuming.

"Hey Rachel!" Rachel stopped on her track. "Do you have that Greek & Latin Derivative book? I left mine at home."

"Yeah. It's in my locker."

"Can I borrow it now?"

"Okay." Rachel walked back to her locker and Quinn followed her. She memorized Rachel's locker combination for her usage later. Rachel passed her the book.

"Thanks. I'll give this back later in the choir room."

"Yeah okay."

Quinn pretended to walk away and made her way back to Rachel's locker once she saw Rachel turned around the corner. The bell rang and all the students made their way to their respective classes, but Quinn lingered until the coast was clear. She would be a bit late but she had something important to do.

She opened Rachel's locker and snooped around.

_The best way to know someone is to see what's in their closet._

The first thing she saw was Rachel's phone. She pressed the button but it was protected by passcode.

_Hmm, it might be Barbra's birthday, but I don't know her birthday. Or maybe it's Rachel's birthday, I don't know that either._

So the phone was a no go. The phone cover was pink and she saw a lot of pink things in her locker, so she concluded that Rachel's favorite color was pink. There was a food container, so Quinn opened it and saw it was full of green stuff. _Is this all that she's eating? No wonder she's so tiny._

She looked at the pictures plastered in her locker and saw the photo of the Glee club when they won Sectionals the first time. There were pictures of her dads. She had heard about Rachel's two dads and also heard how people had make fun of her because of that. It amazed her that Rachel wasn't at all affected by the nasty things people said. _So maybe she won't be oppose to liking another girl. Urgh, but maybe I will be oppose to it. It's okay Quinn, just do it fast, get her to fall for you, prove your point, and get out of it. It shouldn't be that hard._

She saw some pictures with Finn. She knew that they broke up during summer, words got around fast in a small town, but she saw them hanging out at the mall from time to time, so maybe they were still good friends. _Or maybe Rachel was still not over him. God, how the hell am I going to get Finn-obsessed Rachel?__ How am I going to get boy-crazy Rachel to fall for a girl?_

Quinn realized that she had been there for awhile now and she was really late to her class, so she closed the locker and ran to her class.

* * *

Quinn had a brief run in with Santana who was eager to update her with her progress.

"I have a date with Karofsky this Friday," Santana smirked.

"Already?" Quinn found it hard to believe.

"Well, he said he wanted to watch Paranormal Activity 3 and I said that I really want to watch it too, so we're going to watch it together."

"That's not a date," Quinn mocked her.

"Better than what you have. " Santana got defensive.

"Umm ... we … talk."

"Yeah, we all talk to Berry. There's nothing to it." It was Santana's turn to mock her.

"Well I'm not going to share my strategy. You might steal it."

"As if. I think I have mine in the bag by the end of next week."

"You want to double the wager?" Quinn was irritated and wasn't thinking rationally.

"Oh please Q. You really don't want to depart with $2000." Santana walked away leaving Quinn's head reeling with things she wanted to do to get Santana to shut up. She wasn't progressing fast enough. Sure it had only been the first day, but Santana was moving too fast and she really didn't want to lose her pride.

* * *

She walked into the choir room and thought of sitting next to Rachel but she was too late because Finn was already on one side and Kurt on the other side. She saw Santana was laughing at her. She quickly took a seat furthest from everyone. She just had to wait until the end of Glee club to talk to Rachel. That is if she could get Finn to not hover around. The end couldn't come soon enough. She was restless throughout the club meeting. They were discussing songs for Sectionals, then Artie and Tina performed some song, but she couldn't even remember what they sang. Her mind was focused on what she needed to do to get Rachel alone. Rachel might be a loser, but she's a loser with groupies. If it wasn't Finn, there was Kurt and occasionally Mercedes and Tina.

Her thoughts were broken by the sound of chairs moving and she saw everyone leaving the room. Rachel was talking to Finn and it annoyed her that he was around. _Can't people break up and stay away from each other?_

"Hey Rachel," Quinn walked to her side. "Here's your book. Thanks for that."

"You're welcome."

She saw Finn was still standing on the side.

"Can I talk to you for a bit?"

Rachel seemed surprise, "Umm, sure."

Quinn made her way out of the choir room and Rachel followed her, but she saw that Finn was about to follow them, so she shot Finn a look that told him to stay. It was a good thing that Finn understood all her looks from the time they were dating.

"What can I help you with Quinn?"

"Umm … remember last time you offered to coach me with my singing. You said sometimes it was sharp." Quinn hate to admit it, but desperate time calls for desperate measures. She was almost gritting her teeth, "I'm wondering if the offer's still open. I really want us to win Nationals this year."

Rachel had a shock look on her face that turned to ecstatic instantly. She never thought not for a thousand years that Quinn would admit to that and also asking for her help, but she could never deny people in need.

"Of course. My service is open 24/7. Umm, maybe not 24/7, but you know, any time. Anything to make sure that we're the winning team."

"Great. So, umm, maybe we could meet at the auditorium after school or something."

"Yeah, I can set up the timetable. Ooh, this is exciting. I wish other people put this much effort like you do. Okay, I'll email you the timetable tonight."

"Okay, good then. See ya." Quinn was smiling through her teeth but deep down inside she was regretting her plan.

_A timetable? That girl is insane._


	3. Chapter 3

**PART 3**

True enough to her word, Quinn received the timetable in her inbox, but she was too tired after the Cheerios practice and she had quite a lot of homework to do that she didn't read the email. She didn't have to worry about it for long because Rachel came to her the next day with a printed timetable.

"Here. I figured it's better if you have a printed copy so that you'll know the schedule."

Quinn looked at the paper, which was laminated and color coded, and it also had her Cheerios practice and Glee club meetings included in it.

"You have a laminator?" Quinn raised her eyebrow.

"Well, yes. It's a Christmas present," Rachel said shyly.

"Okay, thank you then," Quinn smiled softly, but deep inside she thought that she might have signed herself up for trouble.

"Anyway, our coaching session is in pink. So we have our first coaching session today. I only set it for half an hour so that you have time to do other things too. But we can make it longer if you want. Or shorter. Whichever you want. Or you can set it to some other time, up to you." Rachel had gone on to full-mode babbling.

"Rachel, it's fine. This is ... fine." Quinn had to stop her because it looked like she was about to hyperventilate. "Yes, I'll see you at the auditorium at ..." she looked at the timetable, "2. Okay?"

Rachel looked relieved, "Okay, I'll see you then." She walked away happily.

Quinn sighed after Rachel left. _It's okay Quinn, do what you have to do. Besides you'll get some practice, it shouldn't be all that bad._

* * *

During lunch she saw Santana was sitting at the table that were full of jocks so that she could sit next to Karofsky. Santana was sitting so close to him that it looked like she was sitting on his lap. Brittany came by and sat next to Quinn, and she was also looking at the same direction.

"She's really going at full throttle with this, doesn't she?" Quinn said sarcastically.

"That's Santana for you, always doing everything excessively and always trying to be someone she's not," Brittany said sadly.

Quinn looked at her with concern, "You know it's just a competition, right? It doesn't mean anything."

"Doesn't make it hurt any less."

* * *

Rachel was already waiting at the piano when Quinn walked into the auditorium. She smiled happily at Quinn and for a moment Quinn wasn't sure that she should go through with this. But then she saw Santana's gloating face while waving her money in front of her face, and it renewed her conviction.

"Hi," Rachel said cheerily.

"Hey."

"So I was thinking before we start our session, we should do some voice warming exercise. It helps to loosen your vocal muscles. So, just follow me."

Rachel stood up and did all this weird noises. Quinn wasn't sure of this. She was used to physical body warm up, but this was like being in an insane asylum.

"Come on, you have to do this. This can help improve your breathing technique."

"I feel like I'm back in Lamaze class."

"Yes, exactly, it's like that. See, you already have some training."

They laughed at that, which actually loosen Quinn up and she started to follow what Rachel was doing. After a few minutes, she actually felt tired. She didn't know that singing was supposed to be this tough.

"Okay, do you have any song that you want to practice?"

"Umm ... no," Quinn realized that she should have come in prepared.

"It's okay. Maybe we can use songs that you've sang before. Like ... what about Lucky? Do you remember the lyrics?"

"What's wrong with that one? I thought it was good. We won after all."

"Yeah … " Rachel didn't want to reveal the real reason why Quinn and Sam won, "it's okay, but it could have been better."

Quinn squinted her eyes but either Rachel didn't notice or she chose not to.

"Okay, sure," Quinn almost hissed her words.

"Great. I'll take the guy part and you can sing your part. Can I record this? I think it's easier to go through it properly if I have it on recording."

"Sure fine whatever." Quinn felt it was better to just go along with it.

Rachel started playing the piano and singing her part. Quinn wasn't aware that Rachel could play the piano and she wondered whether Rachel had planned this all along because how could she have known how to play this song and know the lyrics, unless if she was that kind of music freak that remembers every song.

Quinn felt uncomfortable to just be standing in one spot while singing, so she moved around the piano, but Rachel was following her every move, which made her even more uncomfortable. After the song was over, Rachel stopped the recording, "That was actually pretty good. I think your voice has matured a lot."

"Well ... thanks."

"I have to listen to this whole recording and I'll make some notes, then we can discuss this in our next meeting."

"Okay." _Rachel sure was really taking this coaching thing very serious._

"You know, I think our voice does mesh well together. Like last time when we did I Feel Pretty/Unpretty, we didn't even have to rehearse that many times. Not unlike with Finn. I think that's one of my best performances. I want to say ours but we never sang another song together, well, until today that is, but then - "

"Rachel!" Quinn had to cut her off, Rachel was going into the babbling territory again.

"Oh, sorry. I just … umm … I don't know. I tend to talk fast when I'm nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" Quinn teased her.

"You make me nervous. This whole coaching thing, it's just … unlike you."

"Like I said, I want us to win Nationals. It's our senior year and I want to make it really memorable."

"Oh, okay."

Quinn needed to change the subject, "So what happened between you and Finn?"

"Umm ... nothing." Rachel answered nonchalantly.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to intrude. I was just wondering because the last time you two seemed to get back together when we came back from New York. Then when school started again, I heard that the two of you broke up, and yet you still so close to him."

"We're good friends, that's all. Finn is a nice guy, and a good friend, just ... not the one for me. But that's fine. I mean I don't have time for any of this when I only have one year left before leaving this place. I don't want any baggage. And I just want to concentrate on my first love, Broadway, New York City. That's all that matters right now."

"Yeah, besides you should be with someone that complements you. You shouldn't ever settle for less. I'm sure NYC have an abundance of that."

Rachel laughed, "Yeah, cute NYC boys with their charming smile and fancy suits. Ooh, how I can not wait," Rachel said giddily but then she saw that Quinn looked pensive, "You know, you deserve better too."

"What?"

"The boys you dated. Sometimes I think you're selling yourself short. You're Quinn Fabray. _You_ shouldn't settle for less," Rachel smiled so big that Quinn could see her dimple.

"Maybe _we_ both have bad taste in men and we should -" Quinn stopped herself from finishing the sentence, because telling Rachel full on that they should date each other would make that girl run away to NYC in the next flight out.

"We should what?"

"We should ... date worthy people. I mean you're a beautiful girl Rachel, and I don't think you realize that."

Rachel blushed, "Quinn, you're the beautiful one here. I just have this funny face. My nose is too big -"

"Stop it okay, just stop it. You look fine just the way you are. If you would have done that nose job, then you're no longer this person, this … Rachel Berry, the one with this unique beauty. It's easy to find all-American blonde beauty like me, but you're one in a million."

Rachel felt herself tearing up. She was so touched by Quinn's words, especially since it came from Quinn. They stood there staring at each other. Luckily the moment was broken by the buzzing sound of Rachel's phone.

"My dad's here, I have to go. Well, umm ... I think it had been a good session, so I'll ... see you later. Bye." Rachel quickly walked away.

"Bye." Quinn said to Rachel's back.

The moment the auditorium door closed behind Rachel, Quinn released a big sigh of relief.

_Wow, that must be the cheesiest lines I've ever said. Would girls fall for that?_

* * *

Rachel plopped on the car seat and thought, _Quinn's up to something._


	4. Chapter 4

**PART 4**

Rachel had been listening to the recording of 'Lucky' and trying to find things to criticize but she couldn't think of anything. She had to admit that Quinn was pretty good in that song, and the more she listened to it, the more she was charmed by Quinn's voice. She never realized that Quinn's voice was quite soothing. She fell asleep listening to it.

* * *

Quinn thought that she needed to cool it down a bit because she didn't want to make it too obvious that she was up to something. Rachel might have picked up on that. She noticed the look in Rachel's eyes, that she was doubting her and wondering her true intention. Besides if she really wanted to make it believable, she needed to take her time. _Let Santana do whatever she wants, I'll play this game up to my own rules._ She would not let herself be distracted by Santana's actions. She was confident that she would win this.

* * *

Rachel wanted to ask Quinn whether they were still on for their next coaching session, but she never managed to catch Quinn on her own. She looked pretty busy with other people and activities, so she just assumed that it was still a go. She waited at the auditorium for about 10 minutes and Quinn still hasn't shown up. She was about to leave when she heard the door of the auditorium being open and close and saw Quinn running towards her.

"I'm so sorry I'm late. Coach Sue held an emergency meeting." Quinn looked apologetic.

"Oh, that's fine," Rachel was trying not to show her relief. She thought that Quinn had stood her up. "Is everything okay?"

"Well, apparently Santana thought that it would be fine to bring boys into the girls' locker room."

"Who did she bring?"

"Karofsky." Quinn said with venom in her voice.

"Oh. I saw them making out a few times."

"You saw them making out? Like how?"

"Umm ... they were kissing and groping and ... " Rachel was blushing for having to describe it. "It's pretty gross actually."

"That bitch," Quinn said under breath but Rachel still heard her. Rachel wondered why Quinn had that reaction towards that news, so she concluded,

"Do you like Karofsky too?"

"WHAT?! " Quinn said it so loud that Rachel took a step back. "What? No! Urgh, it's just that ... " She couldn't actually tell Rachel why she was so furious with Santana. It had only been a week and Santana already got him to kiss her and she wasn't anywhere near that with Rachel. Not that she would ever want to get to kissing, because that would be so weird, but at least some progression would be nice. This frustration was getting to her. "You know what, never mind. Let's just start."

Rachel didn't want to push it especially when Quinn looked this annoyed. So they went on with the coaching session, started with a few minutes of doing vocal warm-up. Quinn still thought that it looked stupid with Rachel flailing her arms up and down and making weird noises, but it was pretty entertaining to see. But then Rachel glared at her, so she repeated Rachel's actions. It did help her to relax.

"So I've listened to the song a few times and I think overall you sounded good." Quinn smiled and Rachel's praise, she knew it must be hard for Rachel to admit that. "But there's still room for improvement."

"Oh yeah, like what?" Quinn snapped.

"Umm ... I'm not sure yet. Maybe we can practice other songs and we'll work on that. By the end of our sessions, you'll be a much better singer. Trust me." Rachel smiled awkwardly. "So is there any song that you want to practice?"

"How about that mash up that we have to do? We might as well practice that."

They were going to perform Hall & Oates mash up next week because Mr Schue loved his mash up week. So they spent the session practicing 'I Can't Go For That/You Make My Dreams'.

* * *

Another week passed and Quinn was still not progressing much with Rachel. Santana on the other hand was pretty much stuck to Karofsky's side all the time. Quinn said that she wouldn't let Santana get to her, but every time she passed by Santana and Karofsky, she would wink and make a certain face that made Quinn wanted to just blurt out to Karofsky that it was just a competition between them. But they were girls playing by certain rules, and the main rule was, play fair, meaning 'no sabotage'. Quinn figured that she needed to step it up. It was just that Rachel was taking the whole coaching session very seriously that they were using all that time to do some serious vocal training.

At the end of their session, Quinn saw that Rachel was about to leave, so she blurted the first thing that came to mind, "Hey Rachel, you look like the kind of person that own old movies, right?"

"Yes," Rachel answered tentatively.

"I'm just wondering if I can borrow them. I feel like watching some good old classic. Do you have any suggestion?"

"Have you watched Funny Girl?"

"No."

"You should start with that. I'll bring it tomorrow then." Rachel turned around and was about to walk away, but Quinn continued.

"I was thinking if I can watch it tonight. Maybe I can drop by your place to pick it up."

Rachel looked unsure about the suggestion, but Quinn had that hopeful face. She would love nothing more than to share her love of Funny Face, but in this case Quinn was the one who wanted it. She was still unsure of Quinn's full intention. She had been acting peculiar, as in way too nice to her.

"Okay then. My dad's going to pick me up around 3 though."

"Do you not drive to school?"

"No. I can't. I mean I don't know how to. And I can't."

"You're not allowed to drive?" Quinn asked amusedly.

"It's a long story," Rachel said sheepishly.

Quinn pursed her lips, "Why don't I drive you home?"

Rachel laughed but Quinn looked like she meant it. "You really want to watch that movie tonight?"

"Yeah. I ... I want to watch it my mom."

"Okay then. Let's go."

* * *

The drive was pretty quiet except for Rachel giving the direction every few minutes to turn left or right, that was until Quinn's curiosity got the best of her.

"So why aren't you allowed to drive?"

Rachel was quiet for minute but then she said, "My dad tried to teach me one time and ... I ... backed up into the neighbor's mailbox."

Quinn chuckled, but then Rachel glared at her. "Umm ... that happens sometime."

"After that he wouldn't allow me to even sit in the driver's seat. He said I don't need to know how to drive in New York anyway."

"Well, you don't want to be the virgin who can't drive," Quinn joked but then she realized what she just said and regretted it right away. "Sorry Rachel, I don't mean it that way. I was just making a reference to Clueless."

Rachel's face was flushed, "It's okay. It's true anyway. I'm a virgin who can't drive. They're by choice. Well, one of them is."

"Listen, I can help you with that." The redness in Rachel's face had spread to her ears. Only then Quinn realized what she just said, "I meant with the driving, not with the .. " Quinn was trying to explain but failing miserably.

"Relax Quinn, I know what you meant." It was nice to see Quinn to be the one hyperventilating. Rachel mulled over it, "Really? You want to teach me how to drive." Quinn nodded. "Why?"

"I figured it's my payback for the coaching session. It's only fair, right?"

Rachel thought about it as they were approaching her house, "You can stop right there," she pointed at the pavement. Quinn parked the car. As Rachel was about to exit the car, she turned to Quinn, "I'll be down in a few minutes." Quinn just nodded. She was worried that she might have taken a step backward with Rachel. Maybe she pushed it too much. She didn't have time to think too long because Rachel was already back in her car.

"There you go," Rachel passed her the Funny Girl DVD. "And yes, I'm going to accept your offer, umm ... if it's still open."

"Of course. Great. How about this Saturday morning. Good time to practice, not so many people around."

"Okay. Saturday sounds good. Thanks for the ride."


	5. Chapter 5

**PART 5**

Quinn arrived at the Berry's household pavement just a bit after 9 in the morning and texted Rachel of her arrival. She didn't want to ring the doorbell, she didn't want to be scrutinized by her dads, especially when her intention was not exactly pure. Rachel came out a few minutes later and ran to her car.

"Hi, thanks for coming," Rachel said as she entered the car.

"No problem. Ready for your first day?"

"I'm excited," Rachel said cheerily, then she looked at Quinn's attire. Quinn was wearing a striped dress with a white jacket. "You know, I always like seeing you in regular clothes, I mean not in uniform."

"Why is that?"

"I guess you seem more approachable without the Cheerios uniform, less intimidating."

"So I intimidated you?" Quinn teased.

"You intimidated everyone, but maybe that's just your defense system."

"Interesting observation."

"So am I right?"

"I'm not telling. I'm just amuse that you actually spend time observing me," Quinn said with a smirk.

"I ... I just ... I like to observe people." Rachel tried to play it coy.

Quinn just raised her eyebrow but didn't say anything and Rachel kept quiet after that. She started the car and drove to McKinley High parking lot, which was quite empty on Saturday morning, except for a few teachers' cars. Quinn parked the car somewhere in the middle where they were far from other cars and turned off the engine. She passed the car key to Rachel and got out of the car and they exchanged places, but once Rachel sat in the driver's seat, she looked at Quinn, "Are you sure you want me to drive your Beetle? I don't think this is a good idea."

"No worries. We're right in the middle, it's kinda hard for you to hit anything."

"But Quinn, you don't know how horrible I am!"

"That one time. That happens to everyone."

"Did it happen to you?"

"Umm ... no. I was a model student driver," Quinn said smugly. Rachel just rolled her eyes. "Okay, what's the first thing you should do?"

"Start the car?" Rachel said as she was about to put the car key in.

"NO!" Rachel stopped at her track. "The first thing you need to do is to put on your seat belt. Always remember that." Rachel nodded her head, put on her seat belt and looked at Quinn that was putting on her seat belt too. "Okay, the next thing is, you need to check the mirrors." Quinn explained everything thoroughly and Rachel nodded her head and adjusted the mirrors. "Okay, now you can turn on the engine. Since my car's auto, it's better to set the gear at N before you start the engine."

Quinn went on to explain about the gears and pedals and Rachel just listened attentively.

"Now that the engine's on, you can get the car to move a bit. Press the paddle on right to accelerate and the one on the left is the brake. You don't need to push them hard, just apply small pressure. Okay, now press the brake pedal," Rachel did that, "change the gear to D," Rachel obeyed, "and release the brake slowly." Quinn was quite thorough in her explanation and was taking this seriously once she started it. It was her car after all and she didn't want even a scratch. "Have both hands on the wheel."

Rachel managed to make the car moved a bit but it was too slow.

"You can apply more pressure to the accelerator. Try to get it going at 10 miles per hour."

Rachel added more pressure, but it was too much that the car zoomed forward a few meters.

"BRAKE!" Quinn shouted.

Rachel pressed on the brake pad and both of their bodies jerked forward and backward. Rachel turned to Quinn with a guilty face, and Quinn looked very annoyed. She gritted her teeth and turned to Rachel. Rachel was sure that Quinn was going to strangle her. Through gritted teeth Quinn said, "Okay, let's start again."

Rachel swallowed, "Are you sure?"

Quinn looked like she had calmed down a bit, "Yeah. It's common on the first try."

The second time it was better but Rachel still needed to learn how to brake smoothly. Quinn resisted the urge to scream at her for making her hair a mess.

They practiced for about an hour and Rachel had improved a lot ever since the early mishap. "I think we've had enough of this parking lot. You did quite well today."

"Really?" Rachel was ecstatic with the compliment.

"Yeah, we can do parking next week." Rachel was about to unbuckle her seat belt. "Are you doing anything after this?" Rachel shook her head. "You wanna go to the mall?"

Rachel didn't know what to say. _Did Quinn just ask me to hang out with her at the mall?_ "Umm ... Okay." Because what else could she say.

"Great, you can drive us there."

"Are you crazy? It's easy to drive here, there's no cars."

"You need to get the practice at some point. There's no better day than today. Besides there aren't that many cars now. You should be fine."

"Quinn, you're putting too much faith in me."

"I trust you." Quinn said it so sincerely that Rachel couldn't help but believe her. She didn't understand the look that Quinn was giving her, but she didn't want to question it either. "Okay, let's go to the mall then," Rachel said excitedly. "You have to give me direction though. Too many things to process at one time."

Rachel was driving so slow that they received angry honks even from older people, but Quinn just turned the music up. When they finally arrived at the mall, Quinn parked the car.

"Thank you for being patient with me," Rachel said as they were walking towards the mall entrance.

"You've been patient with me too," Quinn smiled. "Anyway, I'm kinda hungry. Do you want to get brunch?"

"Sure."

They went to Ruby Tuesday for brunch.

"I never thought that I would be hanging out at the mall with you," Rachel said jokingly.

"Well, there's always a first. You know, I'm not that intimidating."

"Oh yeah, I mean, now not so much. These past few months, I think you've been very kind towards me. Quite a complete opposite from a year ago. We've had our ups and downs, and I like that we're able to do this now, having brunch at the mall," Rachel flashed her dimpled smile that Quinn had to look away.

"Yeah. I like this too," Quinn smiled back but it was hard to look at Rachel when Rachel looked this happy. "I tend to come to the mall with Brittany and Santana and that could get tiresome after a while. I always feel like the third wheel."

"I thought Santana's with Karofsky now."

Quinn didn't reply to that. She was quiet for a bit and then she said, "I guess in this small town, it's better to conform, right? Why do you want to live with that much complication?"

"But shouldn't you follow your heart?"

"I think there's a lot of things that you have to take into account, because it's not just you and the other person. You see what happened to Kurt. And do you remember the guy that committed suicide when we were freshmen. How do you live with two dads though? Don't you get into trouble a lot too?"

"Yes, it was hard at times. Luckily my dads are somebody in this town, and have friends in higher places. I guess it helps that I'm straight too. Who knows what kind of hell my life would be in school if I'm not."

Quinn contemplated on what she should say next, "So you never feel inclined towards another girl?"

"Umm ... I can appreciate beauty. I guess I never thought about it. But I think in the end you fall for whoever you have a strong connection with. All this time it's always been boys for me, but I couldn't say that it wouldn't be a girl one day. Never say never, right?" Quinn's amused with how open Rachel can be with sexuality. _Maybe it wouldn't be so hard then to make her fall for me, but I need to find that connection. "_Can you? Fall for someone of the same gender?"

Rachel was asking her the question that she never asked herself. Quinn's face turned red, "Umm ... I don't know ... I guess ... I don't know ... I never thought about it." Quinn looked so uncomfortable that Rachel felt sorry for asking.

"So how do you like Funny Girl?"

Rachel changed the subject and it worked, they spent the rest of the brunch talking about it. After brunch, they decided to do some window shopping and that was when they bumped into Santana and Karofsky.

"Hi Q. Hobbit. What are you two doing at the mall?"

"Regular people go to the mall," Quinn answered sarcastically.

"But not the two of you together. Have you two become -"

"Friends, yes, we're friends," Quinn cut her off. Even though they were not supposed to sabotage each other, she couldn't risk the words that could come out of Santana's mouth.

"Hmm, friends," Santana dragged the word as she walked away, hand in hand with Karofsky that was looking mostly bored.

After a few minutes of walking, Rachel couldn't contain her amusement, "So we're friends huh?"

_Again with the dimpled smile. _"Kinda."

"Admit it Quinn, you actually like my company," Rachel bumped their shoulders.

Quinn didn't answer but she couldn't help by smile too.

They walked around the mall for a few hours, then they decided to watch a movie. The movie theatre was in another place, so they had to drive there. Quinn drove this time in order to make it in time for the movie. After they bought the tickets, Quinn went to the bathroom and that left Rachel waiting outside. And that was when Finn saw her.

"Rachel, there you are. I've been trying to call you."

"Oh, sorry, I left my phone at home."

"Since when?"

"I've been out the whole day."

"Oh, I actually wanted to ask you to watch a movie with me. But now I have Puck and Mike instead. Do you want to join us."

"What are you watching?"

"Harold & Kumar."

"Umm ... actually, I'm watching a movie too. Different movie."

"With who?"

That was the time that Quinn decided to join the conversation.

"Oh hey Quinn, are you watching a movie too?"

"Yeah, we're watching a movie together."

"Really?" Finn looked at Quinn, and then at Rachel, and back at Quinn. He wondered what she was up to. "Okay, I better go then. The movie's about to start. Hey Rachel, maybe I can see you after the movie?"

"Umm ... " Rachel looked at Quinn that looked like she was giving Finn a death stare, "Maybe I'll just talk to you later. I'll call you, okay?"

Finn looked like a wounded puppy. He just nodded his head and walked away. Quinn tried to gage Rachel's facial expression but she couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"You could meet him after the movie you know."

"It's okay. I'm spending the day with you," Rachel said while looping her arm around Quinn's and dragged her towards the theatre entrance, but she noticed that Quinn tensed up, so she removed her arm.

They watched Melancholia because both of them actually wanted to watch the movie but couldn't find anyone else who wanted to watch it too. True enough to the name, they felt pretty melancholic when they stepped out of the cinema.

"I feel so down."

"I know."

"Ice-cream?"

"Let's go!"

Then went to Denny's, that was just across the street and they each ordered banana split and spent time discussing the movie. Afterwards, Quinn sent Rachel home because they both have dinner plans.

"Thank you for the day Quinn, I had a really great time."

"Yeah, me too. Maybe we can do this again some time."

"I would like that," Rachel smiled and Quinn wondered what that look meant. "Thanks again. Good night Quinn. Safe drive."

Quinn looked at the back mirror and saw that Rachel was still standing at the same spot and just looking at her car as she drove away. She couldn't help but wonder how much progress she had done that day.


	6. Chapter 6

**PART 6**

Ever since their outing at the mall, something changed in Rachel. Quinn noticed this when she walked into the choir room and saw how Rachel instantly smiled at her even though she was talking to Mercedes at that time. And there was something different with the way she looked at Quinn. Honestly it gave Quinn the shiver, and she still couldn't decide whether it was the good or the bad kind. But something was different with Rachel. It was hard to pin point exactly what it was. Like if she told people, they wouldn't be able to see it, but there was just something different.

They continued their vocal training sessions especially now that Sectionals were getting closer. Rachel seemed very serious in their current session, like she tried not to get distracted with something. Quinn wanted to tease her about it but she left in a rush right after that she left Quinn standing in the auditorium wondering on what had happened. But they still agreed on the driving lesson on Saturday.

Quinn arrived a bit early as they planned to have breakfast together. The conversation was easy flowing and they were mostly talking about songs and movies.

"I know you watch old movies, but are they just musicals? Like, do you watch film noir?"

"Such as?"

"Hitchcock's movies, Dial M For Murder, Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho?"

Rachel looked sheepish, "Umm ... no."

Quinn feigned shocked, "Rachel, how could you?" Rachel rolled her eyes."That's your assignment. You have to watch at least one of his movies."

"Fine. I'll look it up later. Unless if you have it."

"No, you just get everything from Netflix."

"I don't have Netflix."

"Then you're missing a lot. I'll invite you over to watch at my place but I have to do some mother-daughter bonding time after this."

"That's nice. Sometimes I wish I can do that."

Rachel looked sad all of a sudden, so Quinn quickly changed the subject, "So where are you applying next year?"

"NYADA."

"What's that?"

"New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. It's in New York City. It's my ticket to Broadway."

"Okay, that's great. Where else?"

Rachel just shook her head, "That's it."

"Rachel, you can't put all your eggs in one basket."

"But I don't want to go anywhere else," Rachel whined.

"I'm sure you'll get in, but still, it's better to be safe."

Rachel crossed her arms and slumped in her chair, "Fine. I'll see if there's anything else in New York City too. What's your plan?"

"What do you think of Yale? They have a good drama school."

Rachel smiled, "I think Yale would be lucky to have you. "

"Well, I'm going to apply to OSU and Michigan too for my backup."

"All good schools." They both sat there quietly until Rachel broke the silence, "I'm sure we're both getting out of Lima soon."

"Yeah, I hope so."

After breakfast, they headed over to McKinley's High parking lot and started the lessons on parking. The first thing was reverse parking. Quinn explained about blind spots and how important it was to turn your head to check if there was any cars or obstructions at the back. So they were both turning their heads at the same time, Rachel to the right and Quinn to the left and accidentally bumped their heads.

"Aww!"

"Sorry," Rachel immediately rubbed Quinn's forehead with her fingers. Quinn became stiff and waited for Rachel to realize what she was doing. "Sorry," Rachel said again when she realized that Quinn was uncomfortable with it and removed her hand. But apart from that, the session went very well, although her parallel parking technique still needed lots of help. Quinn drove Rachel home right after and as she drove off, she noticed Rachel did the same thing, she just stood at the same spot and watched her car drove away. She wondered what Rachel was thinking about.

* * *

The week after was spent practicing for Sectionals that was going to be held on Saturday at McKinley. Rachel did not have any solo and surprisingly enough, she was fine with it. She had learn to be more of a team player and she was pretty confident that their arrangement of the Jacksons' songs would do really well.

Come Saturday, everybody was getting ready in the choir room. Quinn was having trouble tying her bow tie, so Rachel came over, "Let me help you."

Quinn became tense the moment Rachel took hold of her bow tie. She saw Finn was glaring at her, so she glared back at him, and for now she won the battle of the glare.

"Can you please relax. You're so tense all of the time." Quinn glared at her and Rachel returned it back, but this time she lost the battle. Her shoulder slumped and she released the breath that she was holding. Rachel made quick work of it. Quinn looked in the mirror at the perfectly tied bow tie.

"Where did you learn this?"

"I have two dads, remember?"

Quinn gave her a small smile. "Thanks." She paused for a second, "Are you okay that you didn't have a solo this time?"

"Yeah, I think our group performance is solid. Besides, your intro in 'Control' alone will ensure our winning," she teased while raising her eyebrows.

"Whatever," Quinn quipped back.

"Stop making out, we're going on stage now," Santana said mockingly as she walked by.

Quinn just shook her head and avoided Rachel's eyes, "Let's go."

* * *

They easily won the competition but they stopped all activities with the club as it was time for Christmas holiday and school break. When the school was back in session, everyone was excited to start the practice for Regionals. Everyone was chatting excitedly in the choir room while waiting for Mr Schue to arrive. Quinn had arrived early and sat next to Mercedes and Tina. She had not seen or talk to Rachel ever since the school break. They exchanged some text messages, wishing Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year, but apart from that, they had remained silent. Quinn thought of giving her a call but she didn't know when would be the right time. It was either she was occupied with her own family or she always felt that Rachel would be busy with her own family. She hate to admit it but she actually missed her. So here she was in the choir room fidgeting on her chair and trying to pay attention to whatever topic that Mercedes and Tina were discussing. Rachel walked in later with Kurt and they were having a pretty engaging conversation. Rachel didn't even notice Quinn, she continued talking and walking to her seat. Mr Schue came in a few minutes later and everybody stopped talking. She noticed that Rachel was looking at the door, like she was expecting someone. Then Rachel started to look around until she found Quinn who was sitting a few rows behind. Their eyes met and Rachel had that delighted look. She smiled brightly and Quinn couldn't help but returned the smile. Then Rachel sat straight and focused on Mr Schue who was talking about Sectionals.

_Was she looking for me?_ Quinn smiled because she knew that she had some sort of hold on Rachel now.

After the practice, Quinn approached Rachel who was at the moment talking to Finn.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" Finn was asking her.

Rachel noticed that Quinn was standing next to her and she turned to Quinn. It looked like she was waiting for Quinn to say something, so Quinn just blurted out, "Can I drive you home?"

She heard Finn grumbled. Rachel looked at Finn and at her and back at him again. "Finn," she touched his hand, "sorry, maybe next time. It's just that there's something I need to discuss with Quinn."

He just nodded his head and left the room. Then Rachel looped her arm around Quinn and dragged her out of the room to the hallway. This time Quinn didn't flinch. "Hey, I miss you."

"You do?" Even though she thought about it, it still surprised her to hear Rachel said it.

"Yeah, it's just that I haven't talked to you for a while. I guess I kinda miss our sessions."

"Me too," Rachel looked at her, "Umm ... you know, the sessions."

Rachel pursed her lips and nodded slowly.

"So what was it that you wanted to discuss?"

"Oh, nothing. I just said that. I just want to talk to you, that's all."

They reached Quinn's car and drove out of the school.

"What have you been up to? How's your Christmas? New Year?"

Quinn chuckled at Rachel's eagerness, "I spent Christmas with my mother, my sister and grandparents in Miami. So it's not really White Christmas. But it was nice to be by the beach when it was freezing cold here. Then we spent New Year's Eve at Disney World. So it was so much fun. How about you?"

"You went to Disney World? I've never been there," Rachel pouted.

"Really? We should go there someday."

"I would love that," Rachel beamed.

Quinn thought of what she just said and thought that she shouldn't say things that she couldn't deliver.

"So what did you do?" She quickly change the subject.

"We celebrated Hanukkah at my grandparents in Ann Arbor, and New Year's Eve in Chicago."

"That sounds like fun too."

"Not as fun as Disney World!"

Quinn laughed at Rachel's childish tone, then she noticed a beautiful silver bracelet on Rachel's wrist.

"That's beautiful. Your Christmas - I mean Hanukkah present?"

"Oh no, it's my birthday gift from my grandmother."

Quinn slowly turned towards her, "When's your birthday?"

"18th December."

Quinn looked apologetic, "Happy Belated Birthday."

Rachel smiled, "Thank you."

Quinn was quiet for a bit, "Let me take you out for a belated birthday dinner."

"What? You don't need to do that. It's fine."

"No, I want to. How about this Friday night?"

They had arrived at Rachel's house.

"So?" Quinn turned to her waiting for an answer.

Rachel picked up her bag and opened the door, "Okay, it's a date," she smiled playfully.

"What?" Quinn looked stunned.

"Bye Quinn and thanks for the ride," she closed the door and left Quinn looking flabbergasted.


	7. Chapter 7

**PART 7**

"I saw the Hobbit hanging off your arm yesterday. Are you two a couple now? Has she professed her love for you?" Santana asked mockingly while she was changing her clothes in the locker room.

"No," Quinn got irritated, "But I'm sure it's coming soon. We have a _date_ this Friday," Quinn said confidently.

"Woah, who would have thought that the good Christian girl is going on a Sapphic adventure."

Quinn's face turned red, "Can you pipe it down. I'm only doing this so that I can laugh at your face, and take your money while I'm at it. Besides, shouldn't _you_ be worrying about _your_ 'relationship'?" Quinn air quoted.

"It's going great," Santana said nonchalantly.

"What? He already asked you to go steady?" Quinn mocked.

"We are taking it slow."

"You? Taking it slow? As if. Words got around that you two have been making out all over the school."

"Well, some people need assurance."

"Or maybe he's just not interested."

"At least we kissed. I call that progression. Can't say the same thing about you. What do you have? All talk and no action. But then," Santana walked closer, "Can you even pucker up your lips to kiss that Hobbit big mouth?" Quinn looked stricken and it made Santana laughed, "You can't even bring yourself to kiss her. You know it has to come to that."

Quinn gritted her teeth, "People don't have to kiss to fall in love. Besides, this competition is not about who got to kiss first." Then she walked out in a huff and tried to block out Santana's evil laugh.

* * *

"Where do you plan to take me?" Rachel suddenly appeared next to her locker.

"What?"

"I just need to know what I should wear."

"Just wear something nice."

"I have lots of nice clothes," Rachel said as she leaned on the lockers. "But should I wear something flowery, something summery, something -"

"Rachel," Quinn had to stop Rachel before she went to the babble-zone, "Think Audrey Hepburn in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. I gotta go to class now. Later."

"By the way Quinn, it's not nice to wait in the car," Rachel said as Quinn was walking away. Quinn turned around and contemplated on those words. She understood what Rachel was asking, but she was not sure if it was something that she would entertain. So she just gave Rachel a thin smile and walked away.

* * *

Quinn stood there pondering on her current situation. She thought back to everything that had happened for the past few months, all the events that had brought her to this point. At this current moment, she was standing outside Rachel's house and was about to take her out to dinner in a very posh restaurant. It was a situation that she never thought in a million years would happen. If somebody would have travelled back in time to tell her that, she would have put that person in the mental asylum in a heartbeat. But here she was, doing exactly the thing that was so far out of her comfort zone. _All this for bragging rights?_ But then she did enjoy Rachel's company and friendship. She rang the doorbell. _But if she fell for me and found out that this is just a game, she wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore. She would probably hate me._ Quinn didn't have time to think of the repercussion because the door had opened and Rachel was standing there. She had her hair pulled up in a bun and she was wearing a mid-length black dress. She was even wearing a pearl necklace.

Quinn was lost for words, "Umm ... you look ... umm ..."

Rachel closed the door, linked their arms together and they walked slowly to the car.

Finally Quinn was able to form a complete sentence, "When I said _like_ Audrey Hepburn, I never thought you'd be dressed exactly like her."

"Do you like it though? How do I look?" Rachel was eagerly waiting for the answer.

"Umm ... you look nice."

"Nice?" Rachel stopped and turned to face her.

Quinn collected herself, "You look beautiful." Rachel had that disbelieving look, so Quinn softened her eyes and said, "Rachel, you look beautiful."

Rachel smiled happily, "Really? Thank you." They continued walking to the car, "You don't look so bad yourself," Rachel snickered.

"What?" Rachel had already entered the car, so she couldn't see that Quinn was glaring at her.

Quinn drove pass Breadstix which made Rachel released a sigh of relief. She continued driving until they arrived at a small cottage which was turned into an Italian restaurant.

"Have you been here before?" Quinn asked her.

"No, they just opened last month, right?"  
"Yeah. I've never been here too, but I heard the reviews have been very good."

"But this is such a fancy place Quinn, it must be expensive. You don't have to go through all this trouble."

"It's okay, I can get discount."

They walked into the restaurant. After Quinn said a few words to the concierge, he showed them their table that was seated close to the fountain. Most of the customers were older people, so they didn't have to worry if there were any other McKinley High students there.

Rachel looked at the menu and was shocked by the prices, "Quinn, this is too much. We don't have to eat here."

"Oh God Berry, you're making it hard for me to treat you. Just sit back and relax. Order whatever you want. Remember, I got discount."

"How much?"

"It doesn't matter. Look, they have lots of vegan food here. Umm ... but you don't mind if I eat meat, do you?"

"Oh no, that's fine."

"Okay," Quinn smiled happily. "But seriously, have whatever you want."

The waiter came over to take their orders. After the waiter left, Rachel was curious, "Do you always do this? Treat your friends to expensive dinner?"

"No, that's why I can spend more tonight," Quinn answered playfully.

Rachel chuckled, "Well, just in case I'll be too full to think later, I just want to tell you that I had a lovely time."

"Rachel, so many things can happen from now till I drop you off, you might have a crappy time later."

"Quinn, you're such a pessimist."

"And I guess you're the glass half-full type of person."

"Of course."

"I just think 'it depends' is a valid answer for everything."

They continued their little chatter until the food arrived. Rachel had ordered dessert too, at Quinn insistence. She was eating chocolate pudding and had somehow managed to get some of them on her chin. Quinn laughed quietly when she saw it. Rachel tried to wipe it off but the more she tried, the messier it became. Quinn couldn't contain her laughter anymore. The pudding was smeared under her chin. Rachel glared at her but it made Quinn just doubled up in laughter, tears were even streaming down her face.

"Thank you for having a great laugh at my expense," Rachel said sarcastically.

"Rachel -" Quinn was panting, "I'm sorry Rachel, it's just - " Quinn looked at her and continued to laugh.

"Quinn!" Rachel whined.

"Sorry, sorry, I think you better go to the ladies."

Rachel almost stomped her way to the ladies. She came back a few minutes later, all clean up, and sat quietly while looking at her pudding. Quinn was just observing her the whole time wondering if she had hurt Rachel's feelings, but then Rachel started giggling and took a spoon of her pudding and wipe it on Quinn's lips.

"Rachel!" Now it was Quinn's turned to whine and Rachel's turn to laugh. Instead of wiping it with her napkin, Quinn licked her lips slowly and sensuously, all the while staring at Rachel, which made Rachel's eyes widen and turned her laughter into a gurgle that she tried to cover up by a cough. Quinn stood up and winked, "I'm going to the ladies."

They managed to finish off the rest of their desserts afterward in a civilized manner.

When Quinn dropped Rachel off later, Rachel looked at her, "Aren't you going to walk me to the door?"

"But then I have to walk back to my car, something might happen."

"I can watch over you from the door."

"Are you serious?" Rachel did look serious, so Quinn rolled her eyes, "Fine."

They walked out of the car, "Besides this is how you end a date properly," Rachel said playfully.

"This is not a date."

"Well, you picked me up, treat me to a fancy dinner, and sent me home, all very gentlewomanly, I might add. If you're a guy, this is so a date. Besides," Rachel pointed at her dress, "look at my dress!" She finished it in a high tone and with a mischievous smile that made Quinn laughed.

"Fine, it's a date," they both laughed. When they reached Rachel's house, Rachel quickly turned around and hugged Quinn. Quinn was too surprised by the action that it took her a few seconds to return the hug.

Rachel released the hold, "I had a really wonderful time. Thank you Quinn."

"You're welcome."

Rachel opened her door and stepped inside. When she turned around, Quinn was already making her way back to her car.

"Hey Quinn," Quinn turned to face her. "You look wonderful tonight."

Quinn smiled, "Thanks."

Quinn was about to walk away, "And Quinn," Rachel looked at her softly, "You were wonderful tonight." Quinn was speechless, it felt like something stuck in her throat, so Rachel continued, "Good night Quinn," she said as she closed the door.

"Good night Rachel," Quinn said just as soft.


	8. Chapter 8

**PART 8**

Monday came by too soon for Quinn. She had spent her the whole weekend thinking and over thinking about that 'date'. The more she thought, the scarier her thoughts became. She could not stop replaying the last things Rachel said over and over again in her head. All she could see were Rachel's big doe eyes that were looking at her intently. _What was that look?_ _What did it mean?_ Then Rachel told her that she was wonderful. _Wonderful?_ There were too many things to process and it made her head hurt. She didn't know what to make of all this, and Rachel's voice and look had completely threw her off. _Could Rachel have fallen for me?_ That was one of the questions that she had been asking herself the whole weekend and throughout her restless nights. Even though that was what she had been aiming, knowing that it could actually happened scared her senseless.

It would be so much easier if it was a guy. With guys, she could easily turned them down when they declared their love. She had done it plenty of times, and none of the guys looked that hurt by it. But then, she was not really the most empathetic person. The thing was, she couldn't care less about their feelings because she did not care about their friendship, not that they had any, but with Rachel, she wanted to keep the friendship and she didn't want to hurt her feelings. It was not fair to put Rachel in this situation. She had been bullied ever since the beginning of high school, and some of them were of her doing. But as she grew to know Rachel, she grew to cherish their friendship, and she could admit now that she might have adored her too. She wondered if the friendship could survive rejection._ Maybe Rachel would come around, eventually? Yes, Rachel seemed to be the type to let gone be by gone. But if she ever found out about the competition, I don't think I could ever be forgiven. She might even hate me._

Quinn walked around nervously down the school hallway. The thought that Rachel might hate her made her heart constricted. She could actually feel the physical pain caused by her heart. _Should I come clean to her? _The bell rang and woke her up from her dazed. She put away the thoughts for another day. For now, she aimed to avoid Rachel until she could figure out her next course of action.

* * *

The day went by fast enough for Quinn. All she wanted was to go home and sleep on it. There was no Glee club or Cheerios practice, and they had not set up their next vocal training sessions, so she was very thankful for that. She also had been lucky that she didn't bump into Rachel at all. She was not ready to face her. But when she opened her locker after lunch break, a note fell down from her locker. She picked it up and instantly knew it was from Rachel. She put it back in her locker, quickly closed it and walked away to her next class. She later realized that it was a mistake because she couldn't pay attention at all in class. The moment the bell rang, she ran away to her locker to read the note. Rachel wrote asking her to meet her in the auditorium for a quick vocal session after school to warm up for their Regionals practice. She groaned and crumpled the note. She thought that she could have at least another day to think about it and get herself together.

* * *

Quinn stood outside the auditorium and tried listening in. She could hear a faint sound of the piano which meant that Rachel was already there. For some reason, she couldn't help this nervous feeling of seeing Rachel again. It was like part of her couldn't wait to see her and the other part loathe her for feeling that way. She leaned on the door, counting the minutes passing by and gathering her courage to walk through the door, but she didn't know what she was supposed to say afterwards. She didn't know what was waiting behind it. After what seemed like hours, she took a deep breath and slowly opened the door to peek inside.

Rachel was idly playing the piano. She looked so peaceful and content that Quinn didn't want to disturb her. But after a few minutes, Rachel stopped playing and looked at the door as if sensing that someone was watching her. Quinn looked off-guard when she realized that Rachel caught her staring, but Rachel just smiled brightly, "Hey, what are you doing just standing there?"

"Sorry, I don't want to disturb your practice. It looks like you're really into it," Quinn said shyly as she walked down the steps.

"Oh yeah, I've been practicing this song and I really want to ... umm ... " Rachel looked shy all of a sudden, "I - I was hoping that you can listen to it and give me your honest opinion, because, well, umm ... the original song was played on a guitar and the singer has this very low tone, so I have to make some changes." Rachel was fidgeting on her seat and playing with her hair, "So, umm ... yeah, can you give your honest opinion?"

Quinn gave a slight smile, "Sure." She took a seat in the front row and tried not to think too much of Rachel's funny behavior. Rachel looked quite nervous as she was about to play. She took a few deep breaths before starting the notes. She played the intro to the song but Quinn couldn't pick up what song she was about to sing. Rachel took one last deep breath and started singing,

"Settle down with me  
Cover me up  
Cuddle me in"

Quinn's jaw almost dropped, she never thought that Rachel could sing in a low tone, not as low as Ed, but it was in the tone that she never heard before.

"Lie down with me  
And hold me in your arms"

Rachel was just focusing on her fingers playing the piano.

"And your heart's against my chest  
Your lips pressed to my neck  
I'm falling for your eyes  
But they don't know me yet  
And with this feeling I'll forget  
I'm in love now"

Rachel sang it so beautifully that made Quinn overcame with emotion. She had to blink her eyes a few times to stop tears from forming. There was something in the tone of Rachel's voice and the way she sung it that gave this weird feeling deep inside her.

"Kiss me like you wanna be loved  
You wanna be loved  
You wanna be loved  
This feels like falling in love  
Falling in love  
We're falling in love"

_What is she doing?_

"Settle down with me  
And I'll be your safety  
You'll be my lady  
I was made to keep your body warm  
But I'm cold as the wind blows so hold me in your arms"

Quinn wasn't sure whether the lights were playing tricks on her eyes or Rachel was actually crying.

"Oh no  
Your heart's against my chest  
Your lips pressed to my neck  
I'm falling for your eyes  
But they don't know me yet  
And with this feeling I'll forget  
I'm in love now

Kiss me like you wanna be loved  
You wanna be loved  
You wanna be loved  
This feels like falling in love  
Falling in love  
We're falling in love"

Quinn shifted uncomfortably on her chair. She felt like walking out of the auditorium. She couldn't take this unsettled feeling, but her feet felt like lead and her heart felt heavy.

"Yeah I've been feeling everything  
From hate to love  
From love to lust  
From lust to truth  
I guess that's how I know you  
So I hold you close to help you give it up

So kiss me like you wanna be loved  
You wanna be loved  
You wanna be loved  
This feels like falling in love  
Falling in love  
We're falling in love"

Finally Rachel lifted her head and looked at Quinn. She sang the last few lines with warm smile and eyes full of love, and that was when Quinn knew that she had made a big mistake.

"Kiss me like you wanna be loved  
You wanna be loved  
You wanna be loved  
This feels like falling in love  
Falling in love  
We're falling in love."

Quinn didn't realize that she had been crying all along, but when Rachel stood up with a concern look on her face, she quickly rubbed her eyes.

"Quinn, what's wrong?" Rachel was coming down the steps towards her.

Quinn stood up quickly, "Nothing, I- I- I'm sorry but I have to go. "

"Wait Quinn, talk to me," Rachel shouted to Quinn's retreating back.

Quinn turned around, "I'm sorry Rachel, I have to go. Something ... I ... " Quinn slowed down her breath and gave Rachel a soft smile, "That was beautiful Rachel," then she quickly ran away to the exit.

_**Note:** "Kiss Me" by Ed Sheeran._


End file.
